Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail…

What does the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia have in common with The Galapagos islands?  A postcard!  To be exact, a postcard from Post Office Bay on the island of Floreana, Galapagos.  We participated in the great postal tradition from this island and hand delivered a postcard addressed to a fun couple in Ljubljana, the capital of the beautiful country of Slovenia.
A barrel on Floreana Island has been the mail box for buccaneers, whalers, convicts and colonists for the last three centuries.  No stamps were required as the mail was hand delivered by travelers destined for the address on the mail.  Today, tourists carry on the tradition and we have new friends because of it!  The idea is the same as it was although most people write a postcard to themselves, drop it in the box and then see how long it takes to be hand delivered.  And if you’re bound for an address on a postcard, you take it.  
In July we picked up a postcard that was bound for Ljubljana, Slovenia; in September we carried out the Galapagos tradition. 
Through rain, wind and hail (literally) we set out to deliver this special mail.  The parking lot of the apartment complex was practically empty and we almost just put the postcard in the mail slot, when, at the very last minute, we decided to ring the intercom bell. 
 
Low and behold, a voice said hello.  After we explained our reason for ringing, without hesitation, we were invited in.  We were lucky, Petra just happened to be home from work to eat lunch.  Her husband, Magedie, wrote the postcard so she called him and over the wire we were introduced.  We briefly shared Galapagos memories and made plans to get together for dinner.
An intelligent, well traveled couple; he’s from South Africa and she’s from the countryside of Slovenia.  Over Mexican food and margaritas we discussed the black market for diapers (nappies) in the late 80s, American politics (term limits), the breakup of Yugoslavia, life when Tito was in power and that salsa dance is the  reason they’re together.

There’s one more thing that Slovenia and the Galapagos Islands have in common - Petra and Magedie’s yet to be born baby.  A Slovenian baby made in the Galapagos!  Awww…
The time we spent with our new salsa dancing friends was the cherry on top of a few wonderful days in the fantastic city of Ljubjlana.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore!

We now know how Dorothy felt when she landed in Oz.  Except in our story, Oz is Munich, Kansas is Ecuador, the tornado is a long plane ride, the yellow brick road is the German public transportation, and the good witch is Fatima and Jan (our B&B owners).  After the countryside of Ecuador, it seemed we had landed in the perfect place - no litter (very little anyway), quiet subway trains, buses that were as smooth as butter, toilets that could accommodate TP, drinkable tap water, pampered dogs, smooth dark beer, edible raw vegetables; it was by far the largest cultural difference we've experienced, to date, including traveling from Portland to Buenos Aires.  All of this Ozness comes at a cost though - exorbitant prices, traffic sounds instead of nature sounds, and lots of smoking.  The worst part of being whisked away to Germany is all of the tall, thin, light haired people.  Where are all the munchkins?   Even though we very much miss our friends and family we're not trying on the magic red shoes in hopes for a way home yet.

Mindo, Ecuador: Birds, Coffee, Chocolate

In addition to great birding in Mindo, we have a couple of other topics that came to our minds during our venture to this particular area of Ecuador.

Mindo is a tourist destination for both foreigners and locals.  For Europeans and Americans it is a bird lovers paradise; for locals it is an escape from the city and a place for adventure sports.  Locals typically aren’t interested in the bird life and want more exciting ways to play.  We talked to several local people who worry about these competing interests.  More and more of the jungle is being destroyed for zip lining platforms, four wheeling and adventure lodges.  We could “feel” that the area is at a tipping point and we hope that it’s decided to keep the area as natural as possible instead of creating an amusement park out of the jungle.

Mindo is also a vast coffee and chocolate growing region.  Being regular consumers of both beans we were very curious about this and visited several growers.  Our discussions with the land owners made us keenly aware that buying fair trade coffee and chocolate is an important practice.    The farm workers are typically not paid a living wage and yet both businesses are hugely profitable.  Others are buying up the farms and converting them back to jungle.

Life is complex….for us, balancing enjoyment and doing the right thing is difficult.  We want to observe wildlife in it’s natural state AND consume great tasting, affordable coffee and chocolate.  And we occasionally desire to take part in the adrenaline rush activities.  Yes, we want it all.  Tough balance.  We’ll work on this for the rest of our lives.  

On a lighter note…the birding in Mindo was fabulous.   For bird enthusiasts Ecuador isn’t just the Galapagos Islands by any stretch.  It is home to over 120 species of hummingbirds, 20 or so kinds of tanagers and many other great looking birds (Cock of the Rock!).  We wanted to see some of these colorful creatures for ourselves and turned our sights to the various climate zones and elevations in an area just northwest of Quito.  With it’s cloud forests and dry valleys, the variety of bird life is off the charts.  A local guide enhanced our experience with his incredible eyes and ears.  He would hear a faint call in the thick jungle, mimic it’s mate and entice it toward us.  He did this several times bringing us some real beauties.  We are new to bird photography and we don’t have a camera that focuses very fast, but you’ll get the idea of the variety and of the colors. 

Cock of the Rock, photo by someone who
was really lucky and fast!

The elusive Cock of the Rock,
photo by Amy and Steve

Day trips to Quito and the middle of the world

Quito is the 2nd largest city in Ecuador and it’s capital.  While staying in our “country home” in La Merced, we made multiple 3 hour round trips to this lovely area to see the old square.  This area of Quito has one of the largest collection of Spanish colonial buildings in South America dating back 300 plus years.  We spent hours just strolling the area, having coffee or lunch, and then climbing to the highest areas for a view on the city.

Quito is at 10,000 feet in elevation and is surrounded by no less than 11 volcanoes.  One of them was active only a few years ago and the residents of Quito had to wear masks to keep out the ash from their lungs……can you say St Helens?
Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) sits exactly on the equator, or really close anyway, it depends on when the measurements were taken.  This was very touristy, but we had a good time and even straddled the equator and stood in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres - we just went with it.

After we had our fill of the big city......we were off to the rain forest of Mindo and our last stop in South America!

A few days in the country.........

Hiking in our neighborhood

After two great weeks touring the Galapagos Islands, but with very early morning wake-up calls, we decided we needed to relax a bit, catch up on our blog, and plan the upcoming European leg of our trip.  A few weeks in the Ecuadorian country side should do the trick, we thought.

The VRBO ad read, Luxury Metro Quito Villa with Spectacular Views, in a town called La Merced. It had such a lovely ring to it, so we booked it.  The home, gardens and view were really really beautiful.  We wanted to have all of our friends over for a party, BUT, BUYER BEWARE……the ad didn’t say it was a 1½ hours away from downtown Quito by the public transit system (more on this later).  Metro Quito sounded like a suburb to us and by the map didn't look that far away, but it was.  The ad also didn't indicate that the road was unpaved for the last two km to the home.  Or, that the internet service was SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW and had a data capacity limit - so much for catching up on the blog.  Loading pictures was impossible.  The ad also didn’t mention the cows, goats, pigs, sheep, roosters, barking dogs, that were next door….literally.



We loved the house and privacy, we watched a couple movies, enjoyed Diego the cat and cooked for ourselves, but it wasn't the 9 days we thought it would be at all.  It was a bit frustrating and another lesson learned to look for what isn't in an ad as well as what is.

In order to get ANYWHERE from our lovely new home, we had to become familiar and use the  Ecuadorian public transit system.  We rode in the back of small pick up trucks, stood in jam packed buses and were cussed out in taxies.  We mostly laughed during these exciting adventures and only sometimes cried.


We read that the buses will pack on more people than possible, and we experienced this first hand.  Instead of collecting money from people as they board, they keep loading and loading people, to the point where absolutely no one else can board……then they board some more!  Afterwards, a guy comes shoving through the absolutely cramped isles to collect the money.  Most trips were somewhere between .25 and .40 cents, so we couldn’t complain too much.  We were THE ONLY gringos on all of these buses, but never felt threatened, or unwelcome.  We found the people to be very nice and not particularly startled by the sudden appearance of two white Norte Americano faces.  On one occasion, a cute little cocker spaniel got on the bus in the crowd of new passengers, and clearly was no one’s pet.  We watched this little guy anxiously wait for a few stops before deciding that this one was his time to depart.  No one even paid attention…Amy and I just laughed worriedly; hoping he knew his way home. 

The 9 days we spent in La Merced were not exactly as we planned, but we had a true local experience and that is exactly what we wanted, in addition to a speedy internet.  The friendly Ecuadorian people helped make it a memorial time and reminding each other that the bus trips were a fun adventure, and……Diego, the house cat.  He was our love.

Last post on our Galapagos Islands

Our third and final post on The Galapagos.....The wildlife is enough of a reason to visit The Galapagos Islands, but go for the flora, water and scenery too.  It's all extraordinary!

The pictures below show the wide variety of flora that you see on the islands.  They are not like the Caribbean Islands. They are born from volcanic activity and range from almost barren to jungle lush in the highlands.

 Images from the Island of Floreana

 Topography of Santa Cruz Island, the most populated Galapagos Island

 

Island of San Cristobal

View of Kicker Rock.  See the boot?  We snorkeled in the channel between the two rocks.  The swells gave us a roller coaster ride with sharks as our companions....so fun!  

 

 The Island of Bartolome.....where the movie "Master and Commander" was filmed

 

Views from the Island called Plazas

 

 Flora from Santa Fe Island

Cactus Trees..Galapagos is.the only place in the world to find these beauties

Scene from the Island of Genovese...

 Island of Isabela....

Huge Brain Coral, at one point, long ago, underneath the sea.

Cave cut by eons of erosion

Insect eating plants

 Island of Fernandina

Lava Cactus

Whale skeleton

Steve and Amy loving life

Latitude 0.00.001 - our ships GPS when we were exactly at The Equator, almost.

 Last but not least is a picture of our home for 11 wonderful days cruising a magical place. We are not really the "cruising" types, but it is the best way to see the Galapagos Islands.

The Tip Top IV

 The ship was secondary in our choice.  First and foremost were the itinerary of islands and the tour operator.  Galapagos Travel offered an itinerary with lots of activity and two top of the line guides (for 16 people).  We were generally the first group to arrive on each island (early wake up calls), we snorkeled every day, had the opportunity to kayak and enjoyed evening workshops with detailed presentations about every aspect of the islands.  The food and luxury of the ship were really good, but not over the top.  Galapagos Travel is for the true nature enthusiast, who wants the nature to be the priority.  We were very happy with our decision, and lucky to have like-minded shipmates.
If you get a chance to go to The Galapagos....GO!